Le 6 janvier: La fête des
Rois6th January: The Feast of theThree Kings
On le célèbre souvent le dimanche après le Jour de l'An.
On mange une galette où on a caché une
fève. Often celebrated on the Sunday after New Year's Day. You eat a special cake called a "galette" in which a "une fève" or "bean" is hidden. The "fève" is usually a little china figurine. So be careful when you take a bite!

le 14 février: la Saint-Valentin
14th February - Valentine's DayLa fête des amoureux. On s'envoie des cartes.
The day for those in love. People send cards to each other.
Les vacances de neiges pour les écoliers
The "snow holidays" for school children

2 semaines de vacances
2 weeks of holidays mid term during the Spring term. Many people head off for ski-ing holidays.

Juillet - Julyle 14 Juillet - La Fête
Nationale - un jour férié
14th
July - Bastille Day - public holiday La Prise de la Bastille. Le jour du 14, il y a un grand défilé militaire
sur les Champs-Elysées devant le Président de la République. La veille du
14, il y a les bals publics et les feux d'artifice. Commemorates the storming of the Bastille on July 14th 1789. On the day of the 14th, there is a big
military parade on the Champs Elysées in front of the French
President. On the
evening of the 14th, there are public dances in the street and fireworks.

Août- AugustGrand départ de vacances - Main Holiday Departure
50% des entreprises françaises ont leur fermeture annuelle parce que 16 millions de français partent
en vacances.50% of French business have their annual
shut down because 16 million French people go on holiday at the same time! L'Assomption de la
Vierge - un jour férié
The Assumption - a public holiday
le 15 août - on est en plein vacances. On fête en famille. 15th August - the Assumption of Our Lady. It's the middle of the big holiday season. A great opportunity to meet "en famille".

Le grand départ en vacances. In the 2 weekends at the ends of July and August, some 13 million holiday makers use the same roads to begin and return from, their holidays. The traffic chaos that results produces hundreds of kilometres of jams on major highways of France.

Septembre- September La rentrée
scolaire. The return to SchoolThe start of the new school
year

Une classe au collège en France. Note that the students do not wear a uniform.

Octobre- October Prix de l'Arc
de Triomphe.
The Arc de Triomphe
Cup.

Un course de chevaux près de Paris, à Longchamp. This horse race, near Paris, at Longchamp, is one of the most famous on the French racing calendar.

Le premier dimanche d'octobre
The first Sunday of October: les vendanges- the
start of the grape harvest.Important for the wine makers! It's a great favourite with students and backpackers
to earn extra money

Novembre - November La Toussaint
- le 1er novembre - un jour férié
All Saints' Day - 1st
November - a public holidayOn met des chrysanthèmes sur les tombes
familiales au cimetière. People make a special effort to remember those family members who have died. They visit the cemeteries to put chrysanthenums on the family
graves.

Les chrysanthèmes - these are considered the flowers of the dead in France. Never offer them as a gift to your hostess!

L'Armistice- le 11 novembre - Un jour fériéArmistice
Day-11th November - a public holiday
à 11 heures on commèmore la fin de la Première Guerre Mondiale en 1918. Le Président de la République dépose
des fleurs sur la Tombe du Soldat inconnu sous l'Arc de Triomphe. On garde la minute de silence. This marks the end of the First World War in 918. At 11am the President places flowers on the
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe. There is a minute's silence. Click here for more about the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Voici la Tombe du Soldat inconnu sous l'Arc de Triomphe.
The Tomb of the Unknown soldier is below the Arc de Triomphe. There are always flowers and wreaths there. There is always a very special service here on 11th November.

Décembre - December Noël - le
25 décembre - un jour férié.
Christmas Day-25th
December - a public holiday.Le réveillon: la veille de Noël, un
repas traditionnel: menu traditionnel: des huîtres, un dinde, et
une bûche de Noël. Il y a une échange de cadeaux. Le réveillon:
on Christmas Eve, this is a traditional meal. Traditonal menu: oysters, turkey, and
bûche de Noël ( a chocolate cake in the shape of a log). People exchange presents.
La Saint-Sylvestre
- le 31 décembre
New Year's Eve - 31st
December.On a un repas de fete, chez soi ou dans un restaurant avec la famille et les copains, on fait la compte de rebours jusqu'à minuit. People celebrate by having a special meal at home or in a restaurant with family and friends. There's a count down to midnight.

French people love to decorate the streets with lights and symbols at Christmas time.In this little French village, Santa climbs up the outside of the café in search of the chimney

Célébrons
les Fêtes! The
main celebrations of France are listed in month order.

This is a bilingual site. We would like to gratefully
acknowledge that the idea for much of the written French material
used on this page comes from this link.

QUIZSee how much you know about Les Fêtes en France. Answers are at the end of the page.

1. Which month in France has the most public holidays?

2. Which month does the picture above belong to?

3. Where is this place and what happens here? when?

4. These flowers are given as a gift. Do you know who receives them, why, and when?

5. This building no longer exists. What was it and why is it important to the French?

6. La coupe de France. In which month is this played off?

7. Les vendanges or harvesting of the grapes takes place in which month?

8. In which month is the Tour de France held?

More about March

It’s Carnival time in France! The city of Nice in the South is famous because of its wonderful flower carnivals. There is a special theme each year and people spend many months preparing their float and their costumes for the two weeks of “Carnaval”. During the parades of big floats covered in flowers the characters throw real flowers to the spectators. At night, there are different floats for the light parades

People give decorated and painted eggs as well as chocolate eggs. The French jeweller, Fabergé, became famous for the gold eggs he made for the royal families of Europe at the start of this century. These were decorated with jewels and are worth millions of dollars today.

One village in France now makes Easter an annual tourist attraction. Local farmers hide real eggs in the hedgerows bordering the lanes around the village. On Easter Day, thousands of people come to the little village to try and find the hidden eggs.

More about May

Europe Day on 9th May is a special day to celebrate the European Union. There are now 27 countries in the EU, with nearly 500 million people. All these countries share the same currency, the Euro.

Special services are held to remember those who were deported, Jewish families and Resistance members who were involved in World War II on Victoire

This is the appeal by General de Gaulle for help after the invasion of France.

More about June

For students in “Terminale” or the last year of high school, there is the very important set of public exams called the Baccalaureat which mark the end of their school life. Students may study at least five or six different subjects, which often have more than one exam each. Often these exams are three hours long. You can understand why these students are happy to go on holiday when their exams are finished!

More about July

The “storming of the Bastille” took place on the 14th July 1789. In actual fact, there were only four people in the prison at the time - who were very glad to be released!
This started the French Revolution and led to the forming of a Republic and the deaths of the King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette at the guillotine.

Since then, July 14th has been seen to be a very special day in France. It is a National holiday, and every town and village holds special celebrations usually ending in elaborate firework displays.

More about September

September is the month of La Rentrée or return to school and university. All over France, millions of students of all ages are getting ready to go back to school.
Most schools do not have a school uniform and allow students to wear their own clothes to school (within reason!) Generally, students like to wear jeans and jumpers, or tracksuits to keep them warm during the winter months.

More about October

October is the season of Autumn in France, when the leaves on the trees turn red, orange, yellow, brown and gold before they fall. In the fields, woods and forests mushrooms ripen and become ready for picking.
French people love to collect wild mushrooms.

There are hundreds of varieties which grow in the country areas, but you have to be very careful about the ones you pick. This is because many poisonous varieties look very much like the ones which make safe, good eating.

All pharmacists in France have to be trained in identifying which mushrooms are safe to eat and which are not. When people find a mushroom they do not recognise, then they take it to the nearest pharmacy to find out what it is.

More about November

The 11th November is another public holiday. This is “Armistice Day” and is held in memory of when the First World War ended in 1918. The war was stopped all over the world at 11am, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. It was a war in which millions of soldiers died. Many of the biggest battles had taken place in France. The French wanted to dedicate this day to all those who had fought and died so courageously for their country.

Every little village in France has its War Memorial or Monument aux Morts, with the names of those who died for their country. This Monument aux Morts is in Vichy.